Prove It
by waiting4haykin
Summary: Anakin comes home from the war, and he wants to hear Padme say three very special words.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or the Twinkie industry. I'm sure you were unaware of this.**

**Author's Note: It's the same story that I've already posted, but I had a few minor changes in it - mostly grammar issues and additions. Anyway, the question on my mind still is whether or not this should be the beginning of a story or if it should stay a oneshot. Opinions needed.

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Prove It

Anakin pushed the speeder up to the maximum speed, attempting to blur the very lines of Coruscant before his eyes. His every thought was devoted to his wife and trying to reach her as quickly as possible. He was blurring the very lines of Coruscant and burning his eyes at the smudging skylines. Still the speeder was not going fast enough for his tastes. The months out in the Outer Rim had taken a toll on his soul, and she was the only person that he wanted to see after those experiences. He needed her warm embrace and her lips upon his to make him forget the horrors of battle. He needed her arms wrapped around him as she softly whispered "Ani" into his ear over and over until it became a never-ending word that only she could create.

As much as he wanted to hold onto the image of his wife, his thoughts drifted back to his earlier conversation with Obi-Wan. He wanted so much to let go of it and to forget, but his mind was a broken holo disk that kept repeating the conversation inside his head…

_"Anakin, you need to let your thoughts of her go! Padmé was someone that you were assigned to protect years ago. It's time to move on with your life!" Obi-Wan's words were daggers thrown at Anakin, but they were thrown with the best of intentions. At least, that was what Anakin's Master wanted him to believe. Only Obi-Wan could deal out that sort of hypocrisy__ and have it make sense._

_"You don't know everything, Obi-Wan. You don't know what she means to me, and you don't know why I was talking about her!" True, he had slipped in bringing Padmé up in a conversation with another Jedi Knight, but he had been talking about politics. Using her name informally was a slip, nothing more. What could Obi-Wan accuse him of?_

_"I know that she means a hell of a lot more to you than she should!" _

_"You don't know that." Anakin turned away from his Master and looked out the window. "And you don't know how she feels…" _

_"Wake up, Anakin! She's a Senator. You're a Jedi. She doesn't love you! That's all that I need to know."_

Anakin had stormed out of the room at that point, heading directly for his speeder. What could Obi-Wan know about Padmé's love for him? Who was he to judge? Sure, they were not a perfect couple, but they came damn close. Didn't they?

If it had been possible, Anakin would have pushed the speeder to go even faster at that last thought. Now he absolutely needed reassurance. Missing Padmé had turned into a desperate need to assure himself that she still loved him and that they were destined to be together. He needed to hold her close, inhale the scent of her warm hair, and hear her say again and again that she loved him. Only she could take him away from the world and all its cares, and he wanted her to take him as far as she could. She could take him to the ends of the galaxy. If the Jedi and their stupid code were far from there, he would happily follow her.

He reached the veranda of his wife's apartment. Silently, he sneaked into the adjoining room. He sensed that she was in their bedroom, preparing to go to sleep. He snuck into the room and hid in the darkest corner available. Luckily, she had been in the refresher and hadn't noticed his entrance. Perfect.

Anakin closed his eyes and opened himself to the Force. Inside his mind's eye, he could see Padmé in the refresher. She was letting her hair loose from its intricate design. Her voice carried a calming tune as her fingers worked deftly to unweave the hair and take down the pins. Anakin could see that she was wearing a simple white nightgown with short sleeves. It dropped down to just above her ankles, showing her beautiful bare feet.

She wasn't wearing any make-up, and she only had on two pieces of jewelry. Anakin couldn't help but smile when he realized that those two pieces of jewelry were the japor snippet and her wedding ring. It was a small gold band with a tiny, almost insignificant diamond. On the inside, he knew, the word "angel" had been inscribed. It was one of the few gifts he had managed to buy for her. He had had to work fixing speeders throughout Coruscant in his spare time, but it had been well worth it when he saw her face light up at the sight of the ring.

He could still remember her smile and what she had said to him when he had presented the simple ring to her...

_"Ani, you shouldn't have? How did you get ahold of this?" She had eagerly slipped the ring onto her finger and was already admiring the way it shined in the light._

_"I worked a bit here and there for it. I wanted to get you a real wedding ring, especially since I couldn't get you your ideal wedding."_

_"You didn't have to, but I'm so grateful. Thank you, Ani!" She had kissed him passionately on the lips after saying that._

_"Did you see the inside of the ring?" He was beaming at seeing the ring on her finger._

_"No. What is it?" She quickly took the ring off and glanced the inside. "Oh, Ani!" She pulled him into a tight embrace after she saw the word "angel" neatly engraved in script on the inside of the band._

_"I did it myself. They offered to do it for free, but I wanted to do it so badly. I hope it looks okay."_

_"It's perfect." She hugged him tightly once more. Her hand held tightly onto the ring, making sure not to drop his most precious gift to her. _

_Anakin pulled away from her and reached toward her hand. He gently pried open her fingers and took the ring out of the palm of her hand. Even though they were married, he bent down on one knee. They had never had the time to follow tradition in the marriage, but it was better to start late than never. "Padmé Naberrie Amidala, will you be my wife?" He gingerly slid the ring onto her finger._

_She pulled him up into a standing position. "It's Padmé Naberrie Amidala Skywalker. And yes, I will be your wife now and forever." With that, she had pulled him down for a loving kiss..._

Padmé had finally finished letting her hair down when she heard a whisper in her mind. _//Do you love me?//_ She smiled as she heard the sweet sound of her husband's voice. She replied inside her mind, figuring that he was across the galaxy and not in the next room where she could speak to him face-to-face.

_//You know I do, Ani.//_

_//Really…//_

She giggled as she heard the feigned doubt in his silent voice. He knew that she loved him more than air, and she knew that he felt the same way.

_//Who couldn't love a handsome Jedi protector like yourself?// _Her voice whispered into his mind. As he heard her speak to him, he saw her emerge from the refresher. She held a hairbrush in her hand, and she was carefully brushing through her magnificent curls. She moved to the bedroom window, gazing up at the stars. Gazing, he imagined, in search of the star that he was on. It was as if she was looking for him in the constellations themselves, hoping that the stars might wield answers for her.

_//But you still haven't said it yet…//_ He teased her, wanting to hear her say that she loved him using those three simple words…words that Obi-Wan believed that she would never say to him. His anger flared briefly, but he heard her response before he could become furious.

_//I love you, Anakin Skywalker. I love you more than words can say.//_ He calmed at this, knowing that she spoke from the heart. Slowly, he crept out of the darkness of the corner he was hiding in. Padmé was still looking out the window, and she did not notice him approaching. He crept up behind her, using every stealth technique that he could think of.

His hands crept around her waist, and she jumped. She would have screamed, but he silenced her with a kiss. He whispered into her ear, his lips curving into a grin. "Prove it." She kissed him passionately…and the hairbrush clattered to the floor.

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**Please review. Rants are accepted, and all reviews are appreciated. **


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